Online Security

When you are playing online poker for real money where often significant amounts are involved, you are in danger that someone is hacking your account and stealing your money. There are every week reports in the online forums about hacked accounts and most of the time the poker room support teams are not really helping the players then.

How can an account be hacked?

There are several types of threads. Most often the players have no idea that their accounts are in dangerm because they don't know the basics of computer security.
In danger are the poker accounts and the online wallet accounts (like Neteller or Moneybookers) or your credit card.

Possible Threads are:

• unsecure passwords
  (don't use natural words or names, use at least 10 characters for a password, use upper case and lower case characters, use also numbers, use at least one special character)
  example:  ?lACpAs56IKMs
• the same passwords and account names for all kind of accounts
  (use different account names in poker than your email address, use different account names for all poker accounts, use different passwords for all poker accounts, online wallets and email accounts)
• passwords stolen
  ( guard the passwords well when you note them down physically, don't let other people see it when you enter your password, don't use public computers where keyloggers may be installed )
• viruses/trojans from emails or surfing on attack sites or illegal software downloads
  ( don't open suspicious emails or websites, do every week a complete virus scan of your computer, use email or internet surfing only on the host computer and not on the virtual machine where your poker clients are, don't use illegal software downloads because most of them are infected with viruses or trojans already )
• rootkits
  ( get a antivirus software which is also checking for rootkits or get a rootkit detection software additionally )
• not updated operating system
  ( install always the newest software updates for your operating system, don't use operating systems which are not supported anymore  e.g WIN95 )
• not secured network connections
  ( secure your computer with username and password, don't use unsecure WIFI connections )
• Firewall not installed or used
  ( install and use the firewall which is comming with your router or your operating system )
• Antivirus software not installed, not used or not updated
  ( install a antivirus software and enable automated updates )

As you see most of these threads can only be threads because the user doesn't care for them before they get dangerous.

How can you prevent these dangers and play online poker safely?

Besides basic computer security meassures like Antivirus Software or Firewalls we use the security package below now for years with 100% succes. None of our accounts or of our users was hacked the last years so far we know. And it doesn't cost you extra money to use it !

Our solution package:

• use different  (and strong)  passwords and accounts for all poker sites where you want to play at
  ( as recommended above )
• use secure passwords
  ( as recommended above )
• don't save the passwords on your computer
  ( note them down on a piece of paper and guard this paper with your other important documents )
• install Antivirus Software and Firewall
  ( as recommended above )
• install a vrtual machine software (the free VMware Server) on your computer and install and play all poker clients only on this password secured Virtual Machine
  (  the 1.0 versions are easier to use : dowload here VMware Server 1.0.x Documentation VMwareServer 1.0x Download here )

What will be the advantages of our solution and how to handle it?

• you install the poker clients only on Virtual machines. You only run the poker clients on virtual machines.
  ( If hackers attack your host machine, they still don't have access to your virtual machine. A virus for example on your host machine is totally seperated from the virtual machine )
• you don't access emails and you don't surf other websites in the virtual machines where the poker clients are
  ( this way no new viruses can be distributed where your poker clients are )
• you don't install other software than the poker clients ( and maybe an original  poker tracker software ) on the virtual machines
• you don't allow the poker companies access to your personal data
  ( many poker clients take screenshots, check your browser history and install keyloggers. When the poker client is seperately installed on a virtual machine they have no access to your personal data. Officially they say of course that they never check your personal data. But in poker companies humans are working and a company doesn't have full control over all staff. So when you want to prohibit anyone in a poker room call center in India (or wherever) to see your personal data, pictures or videos, this is a good protection )
• as a result the virtual machines with your poker clients will stay clean and protected - as said so far none of  the accounts who use this solution got hacked to our knowledge !